[Col] Old-School Colonization - Who will show me how to play?

Harv

Emperor
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
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Hi all! I enjoyed the game many years ago, but never actually played a game from start to finish, most likely due to a perfectionist streak. I have been playing again the past few weeks.

Similarly to Civilization and Earth maps, I have enjoyed playing Colonization on the Americas map and more specifically the North America start. Here is a map I have been playing on repeatedly over the past couple of weeks:

Spoiler :

The North America start location 37,14:
upload_2021-12-10_19-16-43.png


The first thing I always do is open up the Game menu options and hit End of Turn. I have no idea why it is presented as an option when it is absolutely essential. Then save game so I can easily find it.

Here is the situation in Europe:
upload_2021-12-10_19-18-15.png



We are playing as England on the original Americas map at Viceroy difficulty. I understand that the Dutch have stronger starting units and a better domestic economy to work with. The French have stronger starting units and better Native relations (and economy) to work with. The Spanish have a stronger starting soldier and a bonus fighting these Natives. However, we are playing as England, which as well as I understand history, is recently recovering from a civil war and in no shape to be funding adventures in a new world.

England gets a bonus to generating colonists through crosses, so I will try to leverage this. With some pre-knowledge of the Americas map, there are three squares that I know of we can land on two of them and start right away generating Crosses and Bells. This is pretty close to what is today Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, and possible Maine, depending on how you are interpreting the map.

@Gumbolt - I remember you from Civ4 and you were always asking me what my plan was. Does this resemble what you mean by a plan?

General Plan:
So I plan to sail to this part and see what is there, then drop the two colonists to found two colonies, then return to Europe in time to pick up a colonist in 1496. It takes two turns to get to the New World and sail into one of the two ports we will have, one turn to sail a sea lane, and two more turns to return to Europe. So our cycle is 5 years and we will be in Europe.

Cross Plan:
With the docks empty and with two colonies, we will be generating 20 Crosses per 5-year mission. With no extra units purchases, the costs are as follows:
1496 - 10 Crosses, 4 Units (Pickup 100 Tools and become a Pioneer)
1501 - 11 Crosses, 5 Units (Buy 50 Horses and become a Scout)
1506 - 13 Crosses, 6 Units (Buy 100 Tools and become a Pioneer)
1511 - 14 Crosses, 7 Units (Buy 50 Horses and become a Scout)
1516 - 15 Crosses, 8 Units (Increase a Colony to 2)
1521 - 17 Crosses, 9 Units
1526 - 18 Crosses, 10 Units
1531 - 19 Crosses, 11 Units
1536 requires 21 Crosses, which is over the limit and we will need a third Colony by then in order to maintain this regular pattern of sailing into Europe to find a Colonist waiting at the docks for us. This third colony will not be located three tiles from a sea lane, so we will need a Wagon Train to reach it. The Wagon Train also counts as a Unit, so based on this, we will need our third Colony by 1526.
If we find an opportunity to buy an extra Colonist (such as a Carpenter) then we will need this third Colony by 1521.

So by 1521, we will try to have:
3 Colonies
11 Units (1 Caravel, 1 Wagon Train, 9 Colonists)

Economic Plan:
This part of the map generates Furs. The market bid price for Furs is 3 gp. A colonist on a forest tile, as shown in the default town setup, generates 3 Furs for 9 gp. The market bid price for Coats is 9 gp, so we can generate 3 Coats from 3 Furs for 18 gpt.

We will do this in 2 Colonies to generate enough cash to buy what I think we need in the near (1521) future.
100 gp - 50 Horses in 1501 (162 gp income)
200 gp - 100 Tools in 1506 (270 gp income)
100 gp - 50 Horses in 1511 (162 gp income)
200 gp - 100 Tools in either 1516 or 1521 (135 gp income + 36 gp from Furs)
220 gp - Extra Colonist in 1516 or 1521 (135 gp income)
52 gp - Buy 4/40 Hammers for Wagon Train

If I balanced this budget correctly, I have 28 gp left over after all these transactions, so there is nothing left over to transfer any colonist to build Bells. I will add this to my list of Mistakes.

Interesting to note in inspecting the market prices is the ask price of Sugar is 7 gp and the bid price of Rum is 14 gp. Similarly, the ask price for Tobacco is 4 gp and the bid price for Cigars is 11 gp. With some investment, it might be possible to make a 7 gp profit.

Build Plan:
An alternative to the Fur Trade is to build stuff, such as that Wagon Train we said we needed by around 1521, which is when we will need that third Colony. Hammers can be bought to finish a project for 13 gp, so we can say the Wagon Train (40 Hammers) costs 520 gp. However, this is what I will call the Hammer Economy and will try my best to distinguish it from the Cash Economy.

A Colonist can spend one turn chopping 6 Lumber and two turns building 3 Hammers, for a net production of 2 Hammers or 26 gpt. This is, of course, higher than what we earn in the Cash Economy producing Coats and it appears to be a direct result of the fact that Coats are valued at 9 gp and Hammers are valued at 13 gp.

We can also blame Mercantalism for this. :king:

This value of labor improves to 28.36 when we add a Road to a Forest tile and producing 8 lumber instead of 6. It will go down as we add more Colonists and require Food to support. It will go up again as we add more improvements. Specialists will earn more, of course.

When we clear one of our Colonies, we will add 20 Lumber. When we plow, we will be able to support a population of 2.

The earliest reasonable time I can think of to build a Wagon Train is:
1505 - Produce 2 x 8 Lumber
1507 - Produce 5 x 3 Hammers
1512 - 20 Lumber + 15/40 Hammers + 1 Lumber
1519 - 36/40 Hammers - Buy for 52 gp

This is later than the proposed dates for the third Colony.

Pioneer Plan:
1498 - Pioneer 1 arrives (1/3 probability of Criminal Pioneer)
1503 - Road connecting colonies
1508(+1) - Road (allow 1 turn to switch to Criminal Scouts)
1510(+1) - Colony 3 built
1513(+1) - Road (depending on location of Resources)
1515(+1) - Alternate Colony 3 built

1506 - Pioneer 2 arrives (Is this Colonization or a space game)
1512 - Colony square cleared +20 Lumber
1518 - Colony square plowed, Population 2

Bell Plan:
It looks like I did not make a plan for adding Bells. For 18 gpt, I can transfer a Colonist to the Town Hall to produce 3 Bells. The budget above did not leave any room for this, only 28 gp.

We can get some of this back if we want to:
220 gp from the bought Colonist we have no plan for.
200 gp from the Tools we said we would need in 1516 or 1521

The current plan gets us a Founding Father in 1522 with a surplus of 1, assuming the third Colony does not get built for some reason. Spending 18 gp as above will advance us to 1520 with no surplus. Another 36 gp will advance us 3 more years. So we might manipulate the year we get our first Founding Father by delaying one of the projects mentioned above.

Founding Father Plan:
I count 960 combinations of Founding Fathers in the first round. I will set up priorities as follows:
240 - Thomas Jefferson - 25% probability - Political
He gets priority in my books over everything, because some of these Founding Fathers appear to be game winners and worth deck searching strategies to obtain.
144 - Hernando de Soto - 20% probability - Exploration
With so many Lost City Rumors, and a few Seasoned Scouts, this is the difference between getting Nothing and hitting the Fountain of Youth several times. However, I am giving the edge to Jefferson, because I worked out the deck digging strategy to be cheaper this way and I do not plan to leverage de Soto until a later point in the game where it is "safer" to start digging for treasure and upsetting the local population.
192 - Hernando Cortez - 33% probability - Military
More Treasure. Free transport. Saves deck digging to pick him up later.
I currently have him behind de Soto because:
a) He appears to me as slightly less of a game winner.
b) He becomes a game winner several turns later than de Soto.
c) I plan to explore before attacking.
d) The 33% probability gives a good chance of appearing again.
96 - William Brewster - 25% probability - Religion
If I am planning to hit the Fountain of Youth several times, then this will mean fewer Criminals and a much less expensive education plan.
The rest go to the Exploration Adviser.
96 - Magellan
If I get him, then the 5 turn cycle becomes a four turn cycle? I have to check.
96 - La Salle
We are cycling the Exploration deck.
96 - Coronado
As above, we are cycling the deck.

It looks like in this list, I have decided to ignore the Trade Advisor and I am missing a couple of other great picks that might show up, both named Peter.

Missing Plans:
Get Rich Quick Plan - Obviously this is too slow a start. Hopefully the RNG provides us with something quicker.

Posting and editing in thoughts.

Mistakes:
So my mistakes so far that I am aware of, without playing so much as a single turn are:
1. Rolling the Original Americas map
2. Rolling the English
3. Overthinking
(I did the exact same thing many years ago in the Original Civilization and learned how to play completely wrong! However, I am also giving detailed information about how I think!)
4. Starting with 2 Colonies already, why no investment in Bells?

I uploaded a save file for whoever might be interested.
 

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1496 - Discovery of the New World

We sailed straight for Nova Scotia and landed, founding a colony on the next turn and moving the soldier over to found a second colony. It does not look like it will ever be a rich colony. It has access to 2 Fish squares. We actually have a Fisherman back in Europe, so some time eventually, he can be producing 10 or 12 Food and allow us to eventually expand the colony.

Meanwhile, the RNG granted us Hernando de Soto right away!

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-10_23-8-9.png



I might need an education on the other options available, but here is what I understand:
Paul Revere - In the event I get attacked and there are no defenders, and there are 50 Muskets in stock, then a Colonist will grab them to defend the colony, only to get routed and lose the muskets. It might work well in conjunction with better fortifications. The only utility I see right now is it allows a little more time to avoid having a standing garrison and having him busy overusing the land instead.
Benjamin Franklin - The utility might be later to leverage a peace strategy.
Jean de Brebeuf - I also said NO to expert missionaries. With so many immigrants flooding in, this might slow the rising alarm among the Natives we will soon meet. I do not see this as a game winner right now.

This leaves one more:
Peter Stuyvesant - I understand that a Customs House is a game winner later in the game. It bypasses Embargos and leaves us with a lot more leverage to say NO to tax hikes. It also makes the logistics of selling goods to Europe much easier. Some guides I have read also said this really helps in North America with Furs, especially if we get Henry Hudson later.

The Customs House will not do anything for me for quite a few turns and is quite expensive to build early in the game. I estimate 2180 gp in the Hammer Economy, more as the price of Tools rises. I think this would commit me to a (get rich quick) strategy of:
1) Finding a rich source of Fur (I was supposed to do this with my second Colonist!)
2) Finding a Native Village to train a Fur Trapper (I was supposed to do this with my second Colonist!)
3) Settle the Mother Lode of Fur
4) Build the Customs House of Fur
5) Find a Native Village to train a Fur Trader
6) Profit
7) Drive down the prices of Furs and Coats
8) Find a new revenue source
9) Say NO to tax hikes

Also note that the 2180 gp I quoted above is very close to the 2000 gp price of a Merchantman. So maybe it is not quite as expensive as I originally imagined.

Our choice of HdS moves us towards a strategy of exploring and plundering the New World:
1) Bust the Petty Criminal out of prison in London.
2) Get him on horseback.
3) Send him to visit nearby Native Villages.
4) Get promoted to Seasoned Scout.
5) Smuggle more Criminals and Horses and Guns.
6) Enlist Hernando Cortez
7) Plunder all the Lost Cities. Dig up rich Treasures. Make the locals mad.
8) Plunder local Villages.
9) Profit.

When we finally do enlist HdS, I will need a new plan for choosing the next FF. I count 768 possibilities, but believe HC gets priority because if he pops up right away, then we save ourselves a lot of deck digging. I will take some time to think about whether it is worth digging through the Military deck to get him in 3 more tries if we have to. This might be what I am doing, because of the plan I listed above.

Meanwhile in Europe, we got the Master Gunsmiths. Master tobacconists are next in line. Interestingly, while we do not have a source of Tobacco, we can buy about 96 at 384 gp and spend 16 Turns making Cigars, which would sell for 1056 gp. The trade will not last forever and this is not in our current strategy which we outlined above.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-10_23-56-22.png




Regarding the Petty Criminals, the use I have for them is as Scouts first, because they might get promoted. Dragoons second, when the time comes. Over the next 3 visits, there is a pretty high probability, at least 19/27 that they show up, probably more like 21.5/27.

Back in Nova Scotia, the situation looks like this:

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_0-1-29.png




There was a great post on this forum explaining the special resource squares. The images are gone, so I could not crack the pattern. I will link it when I find it again.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/prime-resource-positions-demystified.637187/
Credit @Pifou42

This is what I understand:
On the first turn, we revealed Fish at 33,9, 35,11, and 34,12. From my understanding of the rules and playing Sudoku as well as I can, there cannot be any more special resources under any of the forest tiles current revealed. They are too close.
We will be using these rules in the near future. :)
 
Sounds a plan indeed.

How did you install this? My system is not CD friendly. It seems to be a dos installation?

I spent hours on this game back in the day. Trying to wipe out the other nations as they land. Graphics not great but game play is good fun.
 
Sounds a plan indeed.

How did you install this? My system is not CD friendly. It seems to be a dos installation?

I spent hours on this game back in the day. Trying to wipe out the other nations as they land. Graphics not great but game play is good fun.

I got the game several years ago on GOG. I am showing it as 5.99USD and I do not know what their price is in Pounds or Euros. They often have sales. It runs on DOSBOX.

I played through 10 turns and made a few "adjustments" to the plan - and made a few "mistakes" along the way.

1506 - Meeting the Natives

So 1496 we went on a second expedition to see how those sods we left behind are doing. We landed in Nova Scotia, picked up 18 Coats and sold them for 162 gp. The Master Tobacconists were waiting for us at the docks and be bought them Horses for 100 gp, leaving us with 62 gp.

We set sail to Cape Breton Island and arrived in 1503. Looking at a globe, I have no idea how we have not discovered more of Newfoundland. Maybe the Earth is flat after all! The Tobacconists rode to Nova Scotia along the road just finished and settled, leaving the horses for the Colonist already there.

Back in England, the Petty Criminals were waiting for us. It's no big deal. It's a New World full of opportunity! We sold 30 Coats at 270 gp, then bought 100 Tools for 200 gp for the Criminals. Then we did something crazy and bought 30 Tobacco at 120 gp, leaving us with 12 gp in the Treasury.

In the woods, our scouts rode to investigate a nearby Village, meeting the Iroquois.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_10-54-38.png


upload_2021-12-11_10-54-52.png


upload_2021-12-11_10-55-2.png



For simplicity, I will call this village Iroquois 2. If I was playing French, then the next village would be Iroquois 3 and it would rhyme!
Iroquois 2 is at 31,13. They train Ore Miners and are looking for Tobacco, Cloth, and Coats.
They were nice enough to provide us with Guides and our first Colonist got promoted to Seasoned Scout.

I wish this happened to our Petty Criminal.

Meanwhile at the Docks, we have:
More Petty Criminals
Indentured Servants
Expert Fishermen

The plan was slightly changed when I started the Master Tobacconist on the Docks and had Pioneer 1 clear Nova Scotia. The objective I was trying to reach in the opening post was to get a third colony and a Wagon Train. I think I can get these in 1515 to 1520. He will lose 12 more Turns working on the Wagon Train when he could be spending 5 Turns making Cigars. I might not have thought carefully that part of the plan. I still think we can work around it.

I should have saved my game back at 1503, then posted, then go run my mid-day Saturday errands. When I get back, I will go build the third Colony and Wagon train, then think of a new plan that will revolve around getting a road to the mother lode. (It rhymes again!)

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_11-11-56.png




The Scout will return to Nova Scotia and pick up the incoming Petty Criminals. We want Criminals on horseback, not professional Seasoned Scouts! :)

The third Colony will go in another terrible location.

I have to run! Sorry about the abruptness at the end - posting takes me a good bit of time.
 
1511 - The founding of New Brunswick

It should be little surprise that the markets changed. Just by selling a few Coats, we already drove the price down to 8 gp. Well, my Tobacconist in Nova Scotia was working on that Wagon Train at the time and the Colonist on Cape Breton Island can be shifted to Furs. Turning Furs into Coats is now making us only 15 gpt. We can achieve the same result by trapping, so we shifted towards doing that. By an offsetting stroke of luck, the price of Furs increased to 4gp.

We visited the Iroquois Capital at 28,15, which I will refer to as Iroquois Prime.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_15-46-53.png



They also train Ore Miners. We can have as many Ore Miners as we like, but not so many places to put them right now. It might be one of two plans for the Indentured Servant when we get him.
They are also looking for Tobacco, Tools, and Goods. And they provided us with a map.

I had another quick change in plans, because I wanted the Seasoned Scout to return home, and put the Criminal Pioneer on horseback. So instead of building a Road, we went ahead and founded New Brunswick in 1510. It was there we made the horse trade with the Scouts. New Brunswick is kind of isolated right now, with no road and it is going to be while before we get a Wagon Train to it. So I have the the Scout acting as a Statesman.

1511 we returned to England, selling 15 Furs at 60gp and 15 Coats at 120gp. We do not have enough money to buy the Carpenter. If I did not buy the tobacco, then I would have had the money. However, an investment is an investment. We can generate a plan to get the Carpenter on the next go around.

We got the Petty Criminal instead. For 100 gp, we got him on horseback and called him a Scout. We will send him visiting Villages.

We got 7 Cotton from the friendly Iroquois. It's a nice little gift, worth 28 gp when we get it to market.

Here is what the situation looks like:

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_16-2-51.png




I will be posting first and editing in plans and analysis second.

The plans I am looking for are:
Settle 28,12 - This appears to be the mother lode of furs. There is a fur spot right on the St. Lawrence River. We also capture a Hills tile. With an Ore Miner, we can get 10 ore from this. More importantly, it will be right next to a Wheat tile on the St. Lawrence River.
Get a Carpenter in Nova Scotia to finish the Wagon Train.
We will have our first Founding Father, Hernando de Soto in 3 more Turns. We need a plan to choose the next one. I am leaning towards digging the Military deck.
I will go through what I planned originally to check what I missed.

General Plan:
We are still sailing to and from England every 5 years.

Cross Plan:
We produce 5 Crosses per turn. This will work until we have 14 Units on the board. We currently have 7 Units.
1516 - 17 Crosses, 9 Units (Master Carpenter and Mystery Companion)
1521 - 21 Crosses, 11 Units (Immigrant and Wagon Train)
1526 - 22 Crosses, 12 Units
1531 - 23 Crosses, 13 Units
1536 - 25 Crosses, 14 Units

Economic Plan:
We currently have 92gp in the Treasury and are sailing to Cape Breton Island with our Criminal Scouts. Cape Breton Island will have 56 Furs and 9 Coats for us to take to Europe.
1516 - Sell goods for 296 gp. Buy Carpenter for 220 gp.
1521 - Sell goods for 430 gp. Buy Tools for 200 gp. Buy another investment.
After this, it looks like Cape Breton Island is generating 320 gp per 10y visit and Nova Scotia is generating 300 gp.

Build Plan:
Nova Scotia is 12/40 on the Wagon Train. It is on hold while we wait for the Carpenter to arrive and finish it off. He should arrive in 1518. 4 Turns will get the Wagon Train to 36/40. Normally I buy the remaining production for 52 gp, but I have a decision to make.
1523 - Wagon Train complete
Since we have a Carpenter already, we might as well keep building Nova Scotia.
52 Hammers - Docks - 9 Turns
1532 - Docks complete
64 Hammers - Lumber Mill - 11 Turns
1543 - Lumber Mill complete
64 Hammers - School House - 6 Turns
1549 - School House complete
We will probably get these dates pushed ahead if building becomes a priority.

Pioneer Plan:
We currently have 1 Pioneer and 160 Tools. He is currently working on a road between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
1514 - Road Complete, 40 Tools
1520 - Nova Scotia plowed, 20 Tools
I have not decided what to do with these 20 Tools. He will probably settle for a couple of turns in Nova Scotia, then migrate westward. Clearing New Brunswick might also be an option.

1518 - Carpenter arrives in Nova Scotia with mystery companion, who settles in New Brunswick, leaving the Scout to pick up 100 Tools.
1523 - Road to Nowhere, 80 Tools
1528 - Road to Nowhere, 60 Tools
1533 - Road to Nowhere, 40 Tools
1535 - Colony founded in the middle of Nowhere, 40 Tools
1530 is the alternate site to found a colony to grab those furs. This might be better, because it's earlier. Based on the Cross Plan, I am leaning towards founding in 1530.

Founding Father Plan:
We should have Hernando de Soto in 1514, three turns away. From here, there will be..... 768 combinations.
256 - Hernando Cortez - 33% probability - This secures the Cortez de Soto Combination and gets us one further step along our GRQP.
128 - Thomas Jefferson - 25% probability - If we are digging the Military deck to get to Cortez, then this will make it quicker. We have already covered half our options!
96 - William Brewster - 25% probability - He is in the plan, but not the first choice.
 

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Coming back to me now. It's also remembering how much or little the Indians actually offer for goods in trades. Some of them will attack whatever you do. I can't remember the best distance between colonies. Ultimately you want a big army and lots of elder statesmen to get the 100% liberty in each colony. The AI is never too far away. I always used to keep wiping out the AI colonies. I forget how combat works but I think you need cannons for well defended cities?
 
Coming back to me now. It's also remembering how much or little the Indians actually offer for goods in trades. Some of them will attack whatever you do. I can't remember the best distance between colonies. Ultimately you want a big army and lots of elder statesmen to get the 100% liberty in each colony. The AI is never too far away. I always used to keep wiping out the AI colonies. I forget how combat works but I think you need cannons for well defended cities?

I watched (listened to) somebody's Let's Play where he was routinely selling Tobacco and Tools for 15 gp. I was listening and kept hearing, "Let's see if they're willing to pay their usual 15 gp. Click, click. Click, click. Click, click. Yup."
I have made careful notes on each Village I visited, but have not compiled them well here on this Forum. I might do some of that in separate posts, perhaps when completing a visit.
Arawaks. I am told they are the ones who randomly kill your Scouts.
I understand the most local Natives will start demanding goods and attacking as we keep expanding. We are playing English and running a 5-turn cycle, so our population should be rising fairly quickly. I have not yet checked how our opponents are doing. I will take a quick moment and do exactly that.....
9 = 1 + 3 - English
3 = 0 + 3 - French
4 = 0 + 4 - Spanish
7 = 1 + 6 - Dutch

Best distance between colonies is probably 3. The city captures a 3x3 square. However, there will be adjustments to capture special resources. The special resources follow a pattern I do not fully understand, but think of it kind of playing Sudoku, but do not know exactly where the lines are. So if I go in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction from a special resource, then there will not be another one too close. I have to look for a definition of too close, but the closest I have seen them is 7 tiles. I can also deduce if a forest tile is hiding a resource if there is another forest tile four spaces to the east.

Now if I consider New Brunswick, it might be hard to see the map. There is a fish tile four squares to the south, so it is unlikely that New Brunswick is hiding a Wheat. If I look two tiles to the west of New Brunswick, that cannot be hiding a resource, because the forest tile Nova Scotia was on did not have a resource. The same applies to the west for a very long time. So as well as I understand Sudoku, the Wheat is 1 west of New Brunswick.

Granted, my colonies are kind of terrible.
Nova Scotia - 2 Fish, 3 Coast, 3 Forest - Conflicts 3 squares with NB and 2 squares with CBI.
Cape Breton Island - 1 Fish, 1 Forest, 6 Coast
New Brunswick - 1 Fish, 1 Wheat, 1 Coast, 5 Forest

I understand the number of Colonies that can be on the map is limited. Also there is a limit to the number of Units we can have, at 255. If I get close to that cap, then that will be amazing!

This is the Americas map, hence my strange naming of colonies. I do not remember the exact start location, except for the Y-Coordinate.
Y=14 - North America start
Y = 28 - Caribbean start
Y = 42 - Brazil start
Y = 56 - Argentina start
The North America start is pretty isolated - and we settled further north. The land route is through Mexico and lots of rough terrain. We have one neighbor and it will take a Privateer two to three turns to reach them. Based on the populations I quoted above, we can guess who started where.

Combat works similar to old-school Civ. There is an article in this forum where somebody explains it. There are three possible bonuses to combat and they multiply. Final strength 3 versus final strength 1 has a 75% probability of winning. Dragoons lose their horses. Soldiers lose their Muskets. Horses are cheaper than Muskets. I do not know if there is anything on losing veteran status. Cannons are supposed to be wonderful at defending cities!

If I have trouble with the local Iroquois, then I will ship some in. The first one costs 500 gp. This is similar to buying out a Wagon Train.
 
1512 to 1521 - Go West, Young Man and Seek your Fortune

We sent our Scouts looking for the Native Villages, and luck out right away on Iroquois 3. They provided us with more Guides and we got the upgrade we were looking for, from Petty Criminals to Seasoned Scouts. We now have 1 more Petty Criminal and 2 Indentured Servants to deal with.
Iroquois 3 is located at 30,7 and trains Fur Trappers. They are nice and close! They are looking for Cloth, Tobacco, and Cigars.
Iroquois 4 is located at 26,5 and is almost identical to Iroquois 3.
Iroquois 5 is located at 25,9 and also identical to Iroquois 3.
Iroquois 6 is located at 21,6 and trains Scouts.
Iroquois 7 is located at 18,8 and is identical to Iroquois 3.
There are 3 more Iroquois villages to visit and one more to find.

Further to the south, we have encountered the Cherokee and visited 2 of 4 of their villages.
Cherokee Prime is located at 26,19 and trains Fur Traders. They are looking for Tobacco, Good, and Rum.
Cherokee 2 is located at 28,23 and trains Farmers. They are looking for Rum, Cloth, and Cigars.
We also lucked out with them, gaining a nice boost to the economy.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_21-47-39.png



We decided to leverage this into much- needed Bells. Our progress has been slow in that department. The conversion I am using right now is 5 Furs = 20 gp = 3 Bells, because we have two Forest tiles with Roads to produce 5 Furs. So this gift is kind of like receiving about 60 Bells, or about 30% of the way to our second Founding Father.

Hernando de Soto has joined our Congress. We have not been exploring any Ruins yet, because it is still a little risky with the Burial Mounds. For now, the extra sighting range is nice. It means our Scouts are viewing a 7x7 block of land.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_22-0-1.png


upload_2021-12-11_22-0-17.png




Based on the plan listed above, I chose William Brewster. We said NO to Adam Smith. We already said NO to Pete Stu. So far, we have said NO to a big Fur and Coat industry. We also said NO to Henry Hudson and 1 gp Furs and logistical challenges getting them to market to further drive down prices. We also said NO to Frances Drake. The additional strength to Privateers might come in handy - and also burns a card in the deck towards Hernando Cortez.

Our current GRQP is to pop a bunch of Fountain of Youth and William Brewster helps with this plan by ensuring that none of these are Indentured Servants or Petty Criminals. As a bonus, we will also get to choose our Colonists!

Meanwhile at the Docks:
1516 - We had the above-mentioned Indentured Servants waiting for us and we hired Master Carpenters for 206 gp. We pay for this investment with about 14 Turns of building stuff. It also gets us a start towards having an army of Carpenters building up our Colonies.
1521 - We got yet another Indentured Servant! :jesus: must be punishing us for recruiting William Brewster. Well, we still have a backup plan or two for an Indentured Servant.
Currently waiting:
Blacksmith
Servant
Fisherman - who has been patiently waiting since 1492

At the Markets:
1516 - We sold 56 Fur at 224 gp and 9 Coats at 72 gp.
1521 - We sold 20 Ore at 100 gp, 30 Cigars at 330 gp. We bought 50 Muskets at 150 gp and 100 Tobacco at 500 gp.

Our little adventure in the Tobacco market netted us a profit of 210 gp. Our Master Tobacconist might have made the equivalent of 141.82 building stuff, so it has been worth it so far. Based on that, I went in on the trade with 500 gp and it looks like this window is quickly closing. The asking price is no 6 gp, so our Tobacconist can only make 30 gpt on the trade. This will drop to 24 gpt if the price of Cigars drops as a result of our sale. Assuming the price does drop to 10 gp, then we will net 960 gp for 96 Cigars for a profit of 460 gp over 16 Turns, or 28.75 gpt. This is comparable to the 28.36 we make as non specialists chopping wood and building stuff.

The other idea I had was to provide some kind of sacrifice in case the King gets some crazy ideas about taxes. I was thinking about small quantities of each commodity, so that it is no big sacrifice if it is boycotted. 500 gp for 100 Tobacco or 960 gp or 96 Cigars might be too much, however.

Elsewhere in the world, the Spanish are fighting the Tupi.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_22-34-18.png


upload_2021-12-11_22-34-32.png




Spain has 4 Colonists in the New World, so it might take a while for them to prevail.

Current situation looks like this:
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-11_22-35-49.png



We have a Pioneer building a road to nowhere and an Indentured Servant Colonist on the way to a Village to become a Fur Trapper.[/spoiler]
 
I have played to 1531, but it is too late at night for me to make an AAR or formulate a plan. Here is the Colony I was supposed to found some time ago.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_0-31-48.png



William Brewster is about 7 Turns away.
 
1522 to 1531 - Meeting the Aztec Empire

We sent our explorers westwards. We encountered the Sioux, the Apache, and the Aztec Empire.
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_8-42-47.png


upload_2021-12-12_8-43-12.png


upload_2021-12-12_8-43-44.png


upload_2021-12-12_8-43-54.png



Iroquois 8 is at (15,4) and they train Trappers. They are looking for Cloth, Tobacco, and Cigars.
Iroquois 9 is at (23,15) and they also train Trappers. They are looking for Tools, Tobacco, and Rum.
Iroquois 10 is at (18,13) and they also train Trappers. They are looking for Tobacco, Coats and Cigars.
There is one more Iroquois village and since we are now exploring Sioux and Apache territory, it is most likely to be located on the island of Newfoundland.

We have visited 5/7 Apache Camps.
Apache Prime is at 15,17 and trains Trappers. They are looking for Tobacco, Coats, and Muskets.
Apache 2 is at 13,19 and trains Trappers. They are looking for Tobacco, Coats, and Horses.
Apache 3 is at 12,15 and trains Cotton Planters. They are looking for Tools, Coats, and Horses.
Apache 4 is at 7,15 and trains Trappers. They are looking for Tobacco, Rum, and Cigars.
Apache 5 is at 18,24 and trains Sugar Planters. They are looking for Rum, Coats, and Horses.

We visited one Aztec city.
Aztec 2 is at 12,24 and trains Farmers. They are looking for Tools, Goods, and Rum.

It looks like we have found 3/4 of the New World skills. We are missing Tobacco Planter. Looking at the trade requests, a Tobacco Planter would be very nice, along with a place to grow it.

Relations with the Iroquois have already started to get tense for some reason. Maybe they have been reading my posts on social media or maybe even this Forum!

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_9-2-39.png




I thought we were in no position to defend ourselves at this moment, but I actually had an Indentured Servant Soldier on the way and I think he gets an 80% chance of prevailing and Muskets are still cheap. The Furs he was asking for cost 100 gp, so we handed them over. So far exchanges like this with the Iroquois have been:

28 gp - 7 Cotton way back in 1507 that are still stockpiled. I should spend one turn to make 3 Cloth.
-100 gp - They demanded 25 Furs in 1522 and we decided to pay up because we are not ready for a war.
48 gp - 6 Coats in 1530 from the same Village that trained our Fur Trapper.
So our net is -24 gp, or almost dead even.

Meanwhile, the Petty Criminals we put on horseback is making out..... like a bandit!
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_9-12-16.png


upload_2021-12-12_9-12-30.png


upload_2021-12-12_9-12-49.png


upload_2021-12-12_9-13-26.png



So far I count 1420 gp worth of gifts from visiting the Villages, compared to 1854 gp from producing something in my three or four Colonies and selling stuff. As a bonus, our Petty Criminals got promoted to Seasoned Scout.

We sent another Indentured Servant on a little adventure to visit the Iroquois and become a Fur Trapper and settle a new Colony.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_9-17-11.png


The Lower Canada Colony is shown in the previous post. It started out producing 25 Furs per turn. We will move Pioneers over to develop it as quickly as we can.


That leaves us with 2 Indentured Servants in the Colonies and possibly 1 Petty Criminal waiting for us at the docks. We are about 7 Turns away from recruiting William Brewster. For Founding Fathers, I count 576 combinations.

192 - Hernan Cortez - 33% probability - I am looking for the free Galleons!
96 - Thomas Jefferson - 25% probability
144 - Frances Drake - 50% probability - It cycles the deck and the Privateers might still be handy.
36 - Peter Minuit - 25% probability - If we are not fighting, we might as well encroach.
36 - Peter Stu - 33% probability - The Customs House will help later.
18 - Magellan - 25% probability - We might as well.
18 - Henry Hudson - 33% probability - It's a logistical nightmare.
36 - Paul Revere - If I just don't see a good option, then this is what I will do.

Without Thomas Jefferson, the next two FF's will cots 786 Bells. We are currently producing 10 per turn and will have to ramp this up. If we improve to 19 Bells per turn, then we get the next FF 18 Turns after we get Brewster, or in 1556.

If Cortez is not in sight, then I will have to save up 3000 gp to buy a Galleon, because I will not have the benefit of free transportation.

It's time to go back and play!
 
Last edited:
1532 to 1541 - There are Two Certainties in Life, Death and.....

Yep. He got me. Navigation Act. Pay up 4% or.....

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_13-21-44.png



Furs are now a major source of income and a big part of our current GRQP. So far, the new tax has cost us 56 gp. It looks like the tax is really 4 gp per 100 as opposed to 4%. So we can avoid parts of the tax by staying under even 100's. If this theory is correct, then instead of sending a stack of Furs worth 400 gp and paying 16 gp in tax, we leave a single Fur behind and sell 99 Furs at 396 gp, paying 12 gp in tax. We can avoid paying the tax altogether if we keep to increments under 100 gp. However we might also get affected more by the market with an increased number of transactions.

We are building up Nova Scotia a bit.
We finished up the Docks in 1532 and put our Fisherman to work there.
We finished the Lumber Mill in 1541.
We will build a Schoolhouse next. That will allow us to train more Carpenters.
New Brunswick will be the next target, because we have some food supply to start a Lumber Mill right away. After that we will build up Cape Breton Island.
After that, we will probably need 2 more Fishermen.

I will insert a boring lecture on my current understanding of game economics....
Spoiler :

A non-specialist working at the Lumber Mill in Nova Scotia generates 6 Hammers, valued at 78 gp.
This requires Lumber, and we produce that at 8 Hammers per turn in a parallel process. Net is 3.43 Hammers valued at 44.57 gp.
The workers need to be fed and our Fisherman produces 12 Food. Net is now 10/12 of this, or 37.14 gp.
Surplus Food is then valued at 3.71 gp. The Fisherman is earning 37.10.
Lumber is valued at 5.57 gp. The non-specialist Lumberjack is earning 44.57 gp, less 7.42 for food for a net of 37.15.
The Carpenter is adding 7.43 gp to this, earning 44.58 gp, less 7.42 for food for a net of 37.16.

A non-specialist Fisherman would only produce 7 Food for a Surplus of 5, reducing the rate to 31.84 gp.
The Specialist Carpenter at the Lumber Mill produces 12 Hammers valued at 156 gp. This is in parallel with 8 Lumber for a net of 4.8 Hammers valued at 62.40 gp.
In parallel with the non-specialist Fisherman, this is 44.57 gp.

Summary:
No Specialists - 31.84 gpt
Expert Fisherman - 37.14 gpt (+5.30)
Master Carpenter - 44.57 gpt (+12.73)
Fisherman and Carpenter - 52.00 gpt (+5.43)
Expert Lumberjack at 14 Lumber - 70.00 gpt (+18.00)

We have no means of producing Lumberjacks and must either wait for one to show up - or we have to buy one for 700 gp, from which I can deduct 280 gp for rushing a normal colonist. It's a 23 turn payback. The time to do this will probably be after the Schoolhouse is built and the Carpenters are being trained.

Interestingly, the Tobacconist is making 36 gpt, less taxes.


We added William Brewster to Congress!

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_14-22-4.png


upload_2021-12-12_14-21-39.png


upload_2021-12-12_14-22-30.png




That is a wonderful thing to see. Just like that, we turned 2 Petty Criminals at the Docks into Free Colonists. We had 2 in the New World, but we put them on horseback and now they are Seasoned Scouts. This is part of the wonder of the North America start. We also had 3 Indentured Servants in the New World and so far turned one of them into a Fur Trapper and he is doing very well.

We have a unit count of 17 so far.
4 Nova Scotia - Fisherman, Carpenter, Tobacconist, Blacksmith
Nova Scotia has Docks and Lumbermill.
3 New Brunswick - Fur Trader, Gunsmith, Servant
1 - Cape Breton Island - Colonist
1 - Lower Canada - Fur Trapper
2 Seasoned Scouts - 1 exploring the Pacific Northwest and 1 almost in South America
3 Pioneers - Scout, Weaver, Servant
1 Free Colonist Pioneer en route
1 Caravel
1 Wagon Train

I count 280 Tools among 4 Pioneers.
We have 88 Horses, reproducing at 6 per turn, and 200 Muskets.
This is enough to get our extra Scout back exploring when the time comes.
This is not quite enough to defend ourselves against attack. I would prefer to have more horses. So in the mean time we are keeping the peace.

Appeasing the Iroquois with 25 Furs paid off well. They came back two times later with 20 Furs, so we are already ahead.

Meanwhile back in the Continental Congress......

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_14-39-9.png





This is probably where I should have given up on digging for Cortez. We currently have the Brewster de Soto combination. So if we pop Fountain of Youth multiple times, we will get a lot of Free Colonists. If we pop a lot of Burial Mounds, we are very likely to upset some locals somewhere. I probably should have chosen Peter Minuit for the free land. We might be getting a lot of Colonists soon and we have to put them somewhere.

I chose Francis Drake for 337 Bells. The next two choices will cost 449 and 561 Bells, for a total of 1010 Bells. This is probably 25 Turns away and 50 Turns away, or 1565 or 1590 by the time we get to Cortez.

The window for the usefulness of the free Galleons might be closing and we will have to buy one for 3000 gp. We currently have 1254 gp in the Treasury. It will take us about 3 more trips to be able to buy a Galleon, assuming we do not buy anything in Europe. That will take us to 1556.

Here is a look at our Colonies:

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_14-54-0.png

 
1542 to 1552 - The Seven Lost Cities of Cibola

We started to explore South America. It appears the Dutch, Tupi, and the Spanish are tearing each other apart. Eventually we found out who these Tupi people were.

Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_18-20-48.png


upload_2021-12-12_18-22-31.png



The Spanish burned another Camp, so they are down to 12 Camps.
The Dutch burned another Camp, so they are down to 11 Camps.
We will try to find them before they are all gone. Or maybe we go hunt for treasure instead - or the Inca.
It looks like what we have left to visit are:
1 Iroquois Village - probably on Newfoundland
2 Sioux Camps
1 Apache Camp
5 Tupi Villages
The Inca Civilization

We caught a stroke of luck with our Scouts:
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_18-27-18.png


upload_2021-12-12_18-27-33.png



This is almost exactly how much gold we need to buy that Galleon if the situation arises that we need it. We have some Horses and Muskets in our Colonies as well - so I figured it was a good time to start digging for treasure and investigating Lost City Rumors.

We start with (32,12) and take a deep breath.......
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_18-30-31.png



Then we proceeded to (31,15)......
Spoiler :

upload_2021-12-12_18-31-24.png

 
Did you use GOG version or is it better to use an emulator? Will this GOG version work? Did you have any issues. Looks like it is 64bit now. There is 7 pages worth of chat on Gog forum. Nice find for £1.39.

Limit on colonies may be 48! The key here is to leave enough colonists so you can build dragoons near end. Plus have enough wagons and ships to store military resources.

Looks like you are having a lot of fun here.

I hate seeing all these Indian nations being destroyed. Looks like trading with their capital gets you more gold on trades. Also you can't trade same good twice in a row.

Are you planning any wars with rival nations? Have you found them yet?
 
Broken the bank game acquired. :D Thanks for the tip!

I think the graphics need a lot of work. Everything looks blurred. I guess back in the day I had a 14-15 inch monitor. Maybe not suited to 27 inch.
 
Broken the bank game acquired. :D Thanks for the tip!

I think the graphics need a lot of work. Everything looks blurred. I guess back in the day I had a 14-15 inch monitor. Maybe not suited to 27 inch.

It is a DOSBOX emulator. If it is looking blurry on a 27 inch monitor, you might try alt-enter to play in windowed mode and that might help. I used Alt-F5 to take my screenshots.
 
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